Little Birds (2012)

Synopsis

15 year-old Lily and her best friend Alison live on the shores of the Salton Sea among rundown trailers parks, rotting household items, drained pools and decaying streets. What was once an oasis for the wealthy and famous has become a near ghost town, leaving its residents fighting for breath in the deep end. Lily feels eternally claustrophobic and rebellious, living with her manic, single mother, clinging to hope for something more exciting than visits with her young and already washed up Aunt.
When they meet a few visiting street kids, the girls' bond is finally tested and Lily convinces Alison to follow the boys back to Los Angeles. Not intimidated by the journey ahead, Lily is hopelessly drawn to one of the boys and the freedoms of their lifestyle. But in the big city, Lily and Alison quickly fall into the boys' world of scams and petty crime. Lily is determined to stay and make it work, while Alison is overwhelmed and eager to return home. When an idea is hatched to use Lily as bait for men with money to steal, things quickly escalate to a life-changing moment. Lily must decide how far she will go to grow up and Alison must decide how far she will go to protect Lily.

This week on the home market is actually worse than last week, by a considerable degree. There are no first-run releases, and only two releases are in the top 2000 on the Amazon sales chart. Ouch. Furthermore, those two releases are Cosmopolis and Being Human: Season Two and I'm still waiting for the screeners for both films. Being Human: Season Two is easily the best pick coming out this week and since the Blu-ray is the same price as the DVD, it is the Pick of the Week.
More...

Samsara expanded from two to nine theaters, but held on well enough to rise to top spot on the per theater chart with $12,597. Sleepwalk With Me expanded to 29 theaters and was very solid with an average of $11,127.
More...

It is a slow week for limited releases. There are six on this week's list, but none of them are earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. In fact, only half are earning overall positive reviews, and that might change for the worse as more reviews come in. (As I'm writing this, two of them are at exactly 60% positive. Last minute update: both of them fell below 60% positive reviews.) The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is earning the best reviews and it was a massive hit in its native China, but it will likely struggle here. There are plans to expand For a Good Time, Call... on the 7th and the 14th of September, but while I want to see this film more than the rest of the new releases, I have my doubts it will expand significantly.
More...

Full financial estimates for this film, including domestic and international box office, video sales, video rentals, TV and ancillary revenue
are available through our research services. For more information, please contact us at research@the-numbers.com.